About 150 people yesterday gathered in Jupiter, Fla., to "celebrate the groundbreaking" of the $34M Els Center of Excellence to help children with autism. Golfer ERNIE ELS and his wife, LIEZL, have "established a charitable foundation to build the center," and so far have raised about $15M. The Els Center would be the "first charter school in the county for children with autism to offer education from first grade through high school, followed by transition to adulthood." Els said, "We also are raising funds in Canada for a center" (PALM BEACH POST, 3/11).
FOR THE KIDS: Bengals QB ANDY DALTON and his wife, JORDAN, yesterday at Cook Children's Medical Center in Ft. Worth "unveiled Andy's Hub, a cabinet filled with iPads, laptops, hand-held gaming systems and dozens of the latest video games to provide patients and their families with something fun to do while at the Infusion Center of the Dodson Specialty Clinics." The Andy & Jordan Dalton Foundation's primary focus "is serving seriously ill and physically challenged children in Fort Worth and greater Cincinnati" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/10).
THE BIG TECH GEEK: CNBC's Josh Lipton reported from SXSW and noted "wearable technology was certainly one of hot topics" at the event. Lipton noted TNT's SHAQUILLE O'NEAL "is a fan of all things tech," and has become an early adopter of wearable technology, specifically activity tracker Fitbit. O'Neal noted his "goal is 10,000 steps" per day when using the device. O'Neal said of new tech, "I'm anxious to see this new iWatch that's coming out. I'm seeing a lot of pictures, I'm seeing how they look. I'm anxious to see it: iPod, telephone, text messages, tweet. I'm hearing a lot of stories of when it's coming out, we don't know. Anything that's new and cool, I want to see it" ("Squawk on the Street," CNBC, 3/10).
NAMES: Late sports business exec ANNALEE THURSTON was honored during a dinner reception held in her name at the ATP/WTA BNP Paribas Open on Sunday. Thurston died of a brain aneurysm in May '07. The event benefitted the Annalee Thurston Scholarship Endowment Fund at the Univ. of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 3/10). Thurston, while an exec at ISM, promoted and marketed the Virginia Slims Tennis Tours, including the "Battle of the Sexes" between BILLIE JEAN KING and BOBBY RIGGS. She also was involved with event management at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, French Open and Australian Open (THE DAILY)....DAVID BECKHAM will make a cameo appearance during a special charity episode of the now-off-the-air British sitcom “ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES” on March 21 (THEGUARDIAN.com, 3/10)….Mets mascot Mr. Met joined Twitter yesterday and at presstime had more than 6,500 followers (THE DAILY)….Virginia Tech football coach FRANK BEAMER and Tennessee football coach BUTCH JONES will serve as co-Grand Marshals for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (AP, 3/10). The two teams are set to play at the track in '16 (THE DAILY).
